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SYDNEY: For Wiyond, a young Catholic living in
Muslim-dominated Indonesia, the World Youth Day festival in Sydney
led by Pope Benedict XVI provides a rare chance to celebrate his
religion with others.
The 34-year-old is one of more
than 100,000 foreign pilgrims who have come to Australia for World
Youth Day, many of them from countries in Asia without a strong
Catholic tradition.
As he stood on the sidelines of a
noisy procession of thousands of pilgrims carrying a cross through
Sydney’s central business district on Monday, Wiyond said he was
grateful for the chance to mix with other young Catholics.
“We really want to meet with
all the other youth from around the world and share our faith and to
know that we are not alone,” he said.
“Sometimes we feel that we are
alone to become a Catholic in Indonesia. We are the minority.”
Like many pilgrims from Asia,
Wiyond is excited about seeing the leader of the Roman Catholic
Church in the flesh during the six-day event, which culminates in an
open-air Mass by Benedict on July 20.
“We really hope to see the
Pope, and shake hands with the Pope, and kiss the ring,” he told
Agence France-Presse.
Thousands of pilgrims from the
United States, Italy and Germany have poured into Sydney over recent
days, with their numbers strengthened by thousands from New Zealand
and Pacific islands such as Papua New Guinea.
The Philippines has provided the
largest number of pilgrims from Asia with 2,500, while 700 have come
from Indonesia and 260 from Japan.
World Youth Day organizers
refused to comment on the number of pilgrims from China, where the
Vatican has long been at odds with Beijing over who controls the
booming Catholic Church.
The influx of young tourists has
transformed Sydney—with groups taking part in impromptu sing-alongs
around the city, confessional booths springing up in some areas and
priests and nuns on the streets.
At a major merchandising outlet
at Hyde Park, the Vatican’s flag was quickly selling out and
pilgrims could buy rosary beads featuring an image of Benedict,
chocolate koalas and T-shirts reading “I love Jesus.”
--AFP
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